New Zealanders in harm’s way

While we may not have poisonous snakes and spiders in New Zealand, the risks of our natural surroundings are becoming…

Back to the Trade Wars?

By Julian Wood

It seems the Trade Wars are back on. Battle-lines are being draw up like the musket wars of old, with…

“No.8 wire” ethic is not enough

By Julian Wood

While New Zealanders are proud of the “number 8 wire” ethos that represents our ingenuity and resourcefulness, our actual productivity…

Cigarettes becoming too hot to handle for dairies

By Julian Wood

Cigarettes, while not worth their weight in gold, are now worth one and a half times their weight in silver,…

Getting fit to compete in the global game

By Julian Wood

While political and economic “change” is on everyone’s lips, we need to be clear about our current situation, and what…

Read our column on The Spinoff and RNZ

By Alex Penk

This week, Alex Penk and Julian Wood’s column Triumph or disaster? A guide to the minimum wage increase featured on The…

Getting real about the cost of water

By Julian Wood

I spent 10 years in China working on a beef cattle farm, and a fair amount of that time was…

Funding roads in the electric future

By Julian Wood

In a recent blog, I made the case for regional petrol taxes, which would allow district and town authorities to…

Press column: The price of a ticket on the Universal Basic Income train

By Alex Penk

Read Alex and Julian’s column, published in the Christchurch Press:  The price of a ticket on the Universal Basic Income…

Paying at the pump to revive our crumbling infrastructure

By Julian Wood

We hear a lot about Auckland’s infrastructure woes, but across the country there are regions desperately trying to fund their…

Investing in people, regardless of return

By Julian Wood

Like the proverbial frog in the slowly heating pot, many of us are blissfully unaware of the change currently going…

The Budget partnership between the people and our Government

By Julian Wood

Each year the Budget charts a broad course for the years ahead. It outlines how much money the Government has,…

Tax the robots?

By Julian Wood

We’re now quite used to dire predictions concerning the future of work, job stability, and automation. As far back as…

New Zealand, let’s stop being a cheap date

By Julian Wood

Travellers are enamoured with us. Last year, 3.5 million visitors arrived in New Zealand to check us out. This is…

Get real about regional spending

By Julian Wood

If you put people in a room and ask them how to bring growth to New Zealand’s regions, someone will…

Growing Beyond Growth: Rethinking the goals of regional development in New Zealand

By Julian Wood

New Zealand is already feeling the effects of an oncoming wave of economic and demographic change. Over the next 30…

The regional role of iwi

By Julian Wood

Bill English has made a splash in the last few days, both for his sheep shearing skills and his first-time…

The ‘un-meat’ needs of our regions

By Julian Wood

In 1798, Thomas Malthus, a controversial but influential political economist, predicted that the world’s population would soon outstrip its food…

The true cost of getting “Ready for Work”

By Julian Wood

Labour’s “Ready For Work” policy is a great idea. Unveiled at the party’s conference, the plan offers on the job…

Not helping harms us

By Julian Wood

Last week the Hamilton Central Business Association enacted the “Your Help May Harm” campaign, aiming “to educate the public on the…